Sweltering, salsa-infused fun: In the Heights is impossible to resist
Passion is the main game in the Sydney Opera House’s scintillating production of Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s shaggy dog love letter to Washington Heights.
Before there was Hamilton there was In The Heights: Musical theatre star Lin-Manuel Miranda’s shaggy dog love letter to Washington Heights, the predominantly black and Latino neighbourhood on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.
This finger-snapping, salsa-infused musical, first staged off-Broadway in 2005, is making a limited six-week appearance at the Sydney Opera House.
Directed by Luke Joslin, the zesty, feel-good show premiered at Elizabeth Bay’s intimate Hayes Theatre in 2018, then moved to the grander, perhaps overly spacious, Concert Hall in 2019. Now, it finds a fitting home in the Opera House’s cosier Drama Theatre.
In The Heights unfolds in a series of robust vignettes during a sweltering summer in the rapidly gentrifying Washington Heights neighbourhood, where the locals fan themselves on stoops and down piragua in their desperate attempts to stay cool.
The non-binary actor Ryan Gonzales (Moulin Rouge!) reprises their role Usnavi, the easily charming hero who runs his own bodega (corner store) where he dispenses lottery tickets, cafe con leche (with condensed milk, the fridge is on the blink) and kindness. Usnavi, who also serves as the narrator, is torn between two competing dreams: returning to the Dominican Republic or pursuing Vanessa, the local babe (played with spunk by Olivia Vasquez) whom he has long held a flame.
Also central to the drama is Nina (a luminous Olivia Dacal), the neighbourhood’s pride, who returns home after a challenging year at Stanford University, her once-bright spirit dimmed. Nina is struggling with the burden of community expectations, and the sacrifices made by her adoring immigrant parents, who have invested everything in her education.
A number of other characters crop up: Carla (Tamara Foglia Castañeda), the foxy salon owner and unrepentant gossip, who has been forced to pack up shop and relocate to The Bronx because of rising rents; Sonny (a nimble Steve Costi), Usnavi’s younger cousin who helps run the bodega and brings the laughs; and Abuela Claudia (Lena Cruz, from the original Broadway production, in a ridiculous wig) who watches and cares over all.
Every member of the cast is deeply likeable, and there are no weak links.
This is about the ways we dream and make do. The dreams we allow ourselves to chase, and the times where we must compromise. Miranda’s story is as earnest and uplifting as they come — if not a bit thin on plot and friction. The dialogue can be plodding and pedestrian; it gets the job done and moves the story along, but lacks real umph.
That is reserved for the music — a juiced up, lyrically dexterous blend of hip-hop, rap, and scintillating salsa that, under the direction of Victoria Falconer, threatens to melt your face off. Amy Campbell’s choreography, though impressive, feels somewhat cramped on stage. Quibbles aside, In The Heights is too fun and too passionate to resist.
In the Heights runs at Sydney Opera House until 25 August